Where Stories Find Their Form ನಿಮ್ಮ ಕಥೆ, ನಿಮ್ಮದೇ · Your Story Stays Yours
A distraction-free screenwriting environment crafted for English and Indian languages. Local-first, private by design, and built so that every writer can begin their story.
Every serious writer deserves a desk of their own.
Kathana did not begin as a product. It began at a filmmaker's own writing desk.
Kathana was born from a filmmaker's need. Built so that every writer can begin their story.
Kathana was started by Manju S Padmanabh, an independent Kannada filmmaker, editor and director from rural Karnataka, based in Bengaluru. Writing his own films in Kannada and English, he wanted a screenwriting home that was affordable, private and rooted in Indian languages — so he built one. What began as a private tool for his own films soon found its place with directors and writers across Karnataka.
What Kathana Will Never Do
- Never uploads your script. Your screenplay stays on your computer, so we cannot read it, monetise it or leak it.
- Never writes for you. No text generation, no dialogue suggestions, no silent rewriting of your words.
- Never locks your files. Your files open in any text editor and export to the industry's formats.
Kathana exists so that every serious writer can write their screenplay, whatever their means.
Read the full story in the User Guide ↗
The Three Worlds Doctrine
Kathana is built on one unshakeable rule: your creative work, your account and the software releases are kept apart on purpose.
Lives on your personal hard drive. Your screenplay is never uploaded, synced or sent anywhere — not to us, not to anyone.
- 🔒 .kathana UTF-8 JSON Project Files (remains locally with writer)
- 🛡️ Rolling Verified AutoBackups (newest 30 kept by default)
- 📄 Vector PDF, Word, Final Draft (.fdx) & Fountain Exports
- 🚫 NEVER leaves your machine — no cloud storage, no remote backups, no AI analysis
Try Kathana free for 14 days with no account required to begin. During the trial, enjoy full functionality with no artificial writing restrictions; the trial runs locally on your computer with no trial data sent to our servers. When the 14-day trial ends, simply sign in with your email to continue writing. Your existing local scripts always stay on your machine — they can still be opened and exported at any time, becoming read-only for editing until you sign in. The same account works across the website and desktop application. Your account stores only your identity and Beta access status — never your screenplay.
- 📧 Email sign-in & 6-digit OTP (Supabase Auth)
- 🔑 Identity, Beta access status & license entitlement
- 🖥️ Same Kathana account across website and desktop application
- 🚫 NEVER holds, syncs, or uploads a single word of your script
Release notes and installer checksums published by JAGNAAM PICTURES. Installers are completely public and free for anyone to download with no account or email required — and no screenplay data is ever involved.
- 📦 Desktop installers for macOS, Windows & Linux with SHA-256 checksums
- 📝 Release notes and version history (Kathana Beta v0.1.0)
- 🚫 No account or email needed to download. Ever.
Built for the Languages You Think In
Indian cinema is multilingual by nature. Kathana treats Indian scripts with first-class elegance—never clipping conjuncts or rasterizing text into blurry images.
Everything You Need to Shape Your Film
From first outline beats to locked production drafts, Kathana provides a unified, distraction-free environment.
The Privacy Ledger
We believe in provable promises. Here is the literal truth of what touches our server versus what stays entirely on your computer.
| What Our Server Knows About You | What Our Server Can NEVER Know |
|---|---|
| • Your email address (for OTP login verification) | 🚫 Your screenplay titles, loglines, and storylines |
| • Your Beta access status and app version | 🚫 Your character names, profiles, and dialogue |
| • Terms of Use acceptance timestamp | 🚫 Your scene headings, action descriptions, and notes |
| • Optional bug diagnostics (error counts only, zero script text) | 🚫 Your local .kathana project files, drafts, and backups |
Writers' Common Questions
Real answers to the questions working writers, directors, and film students ask before trusting a new tool.
A Home for Your Stories
Thoughtfully designed for the people who bring stories to life.
Accessible to Every Serious Writer
Dear Writer,
Writing a film is hard enough. Finding the budget, pitching to producers, and bringing actors onto a set are battles you will fight soon enough. The software you use to write your story should never be another wall standing in your way.
I built Kathana because I needed it for my own films. I wanted a quiet, distraction-free room where Kannada and English exist side-by-side with equal respect, where my scripts stay on my own hard drive, and where formatting meets international cinema standards effortlessly.
This is your desk now. Take a seat, open a new page, and tell the story only you can tell.
